Wynton Bernard's double lifts Whitecaps over Kane County

Monday

Jul 28, 2014 at 7:16 PMJul 28, 2014 at 7:16 PM

Special to The SentinelGENEVA, Ill — Wynton Bernard hit a tie-breaking double with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the West Michigan Whitecaps to a 2-1 win Monday, completing a three-game sweep against the Kane County Cougars in a battle of first-place teams at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark in suburban Chicago.West Michigan (65-41) climbed to a season-high 24 games over .500 with the win, finishing its road trip at 5-1 and claiming its 10th series sweep of the year.The game was tied at 1-1 with two outs in the top of the ninth when the Whitecaps mounted the game-winning rally. It started with a hit from Austin Schotts then moments later Bernard turned on a 1-1 pitch and drove a liner over the shortstop, plating Schotts for a 2-1 advantage with the game-winning double.Julio Felix quickly dispatched of the Cougars with three consecutive groundouts in the bottom of the ninth, securing his second save of the series and his team-leading 11th of the year.Montreal Robertson (6-5) earned the win out of the bullpen. He was charged with one unearned run on three hits over two innings, blowing the save but striking out three without issuing a walk.Whitecaps starter Kevin Ziomek tallied a career-high 13 strikeouts over six shutout innings. He allowed just four hits with three walks, striking out the side in three different innings to improve upon his previous career-high of 11 strikeouts set during his last start.Raph Rhymes had an RBI in the sixth inning to score Javier Betancourt from first on a double.After Ziomek’s departure, Kane County answered with an unearned run in the seventh against Robertson. Trey Martin reached base on an infield single, but advanced to second when the bag was left unattended before the umpires ruled the play dead. Moments later, Dunston doubled him home to tie the score at 1-1.